THIRTY-SEVEN New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were killed, 29 were apprehended or captured, and 266 others have surrendered from January to March of this year, the Armed Forces reported yesterday.
AFP public affairs office chief Col. Jorry Baclor said the slain rebels included Menardo Villanueva, head of the NPA’s National Operations Command and secretary of the National Democratic Front’s Southern Mindanao Regional Committee.
Villanueva was also the leader of the Mindanao Commission of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the chief of the political bureau of the CPP Central Committee.
Villanueva was killed in an encounter with troops under the Army’s 1001st Brigade, headed by Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III, in Barangay Libudon, Mabini town in Davao de Oro last January 12.
Of the 266 rebels who surrendered during the first quarter of the year, 114 yielded in eastern Mindanao, 58 in western Mindanao, 37 in southern Luzon, 36 in Visayas, 20 in northern Luzon and one in Palawan.
One of the prominent NPA rebels who surrendered is Maximo Catarata, secretary of the NPA’s Guerilla Front 3. Catarata gave up in Asuncion, Davao del Norte last March 31, leading to the collapse of his former unit.
The military said 492 high-powered firearms were seized or surrendered during the same period. Also seized were 148 anti-personnel mines that are banned under the International Humanitarian Law.
It said 66 NPA camps, mostly in eastern Mindanao and Visayas, were seized during focused military operations from January to March.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Andres Centino attributed the feat in the counter-insurgency drive to the increasing support the military has been getting from the various stakeholders.
“As the nation’s primary protector against terrorists and other state adversaries, the AFP’s security operations, programs, and activities are rooted in our collective desire for peace and security,” said Centino.
